A 43-year-old P.E.I. man, whos pledged to do whatever it takes to ensure that he spends the rest of his life in prison, will remain in custody until his trial resumes next week for uttering death threats.
Dennis Joseph OBrien, who has spent much of the last 30 years locked behind bars and feels more comfortable in that environment than he does on the street, is currently being tried for uttering threats to cause death or serious bodily harm to a psychiatrist and a nurse at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
OBrien is alleged to have made these threats during the course of an examination conducted in a secure area of the hospitals emergency department last month.
Testimony resumed Friday in provincial court when Const. Tara Watts of Charlottetown City Police told Chief Provincial Court Judge John Douglas that she heard OBrien tell hospital staff that he wanted to go back to prison, and not just for a brief period of time.
Watts said she heard OBrien utter the following words: Im not going back for another three-year sentence, Im going back for life.
Watts also heard OBrien utter these chilling words.
You dont know Im not going to kill someone tonight.
The court also heard Friday from a guard at the provincial correctional centre who testified OBrien tried to commit suicide while in custody.
Testimony is still to come from the nurse OBrien is accused of threatening.
She is slated to testify when the case returns to court Oct. 28.
The court heard testimony earlier this week from the psychiatrist OBrien is accused of threatening.
She testified that OBriens threats should be taken seriously.
Having assessed a number of people to determine whether they are dangerous or pose a risk to the public she said she knows when people are just saying things for dramatic effect and thats not the impression she got from talking to OBrien.
She said she felt profoundly afraid of the accused.
It was also her belief that OBrien should be assessed by a forensic psychiatrist.
Prince Edward Island does not have a secure forensic psychiatric facility. The closest facility of that nature is in Halifax.
The psychiatrist who examined OBrien at the QEH did so at the request of officials at the federal correctional facility in Springhill, N.S.
He was released from that facility because he had served his last sentence in full and could no longer be held in custody.
But prison officials took the unusual step of transferring him to the QEH for a psychiatric assessment because of fears he might harm himself or harm others.
OBrien had indicated to staff at the Springhill facility that he was both suicidal and homicidal.
The accused has been remanded in custody by his own consent until his next court date.
Island man, 43, on trial for death threats at QEH
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Comments
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- Linda
- - June 21st, 2010 at 19:04:48
Suicidal and Homicidal - Great! So, who should be protected? The public OR the threat?
Our system is in Serious need of a fix, the laws, as they are - do Not work. People who, like this guy; come right out and tell authorities that they are a Threat to the public MUST be dealt with appropriately. Waiting for them to carry out a threat and Then charging them is Not what our system is supposed to do. Our Legal system is Supposed to be in place to Protect and Prevent US from being victimized by these wacko's.
If this guy is allowed to go free - the system itself is responsible and should be held accountable for Endangering the Public and for being negligent in its role to maintain the safety and peace of the public it is supposed to serve.
Institutionalize his azz, give him a pill - like we so readily give our children when they don't conform! Give him a little cell, the bare necessities and a pill or two a day .. so he doesn't hurt himself either. Or just restrain him and use him to experiment on with your new wonder drugs.
What a crazy crazy world. Sorry for the long old rant, but this crap is just too nuts.
We need better laws, better judges and we need the laws to be in place to protect law abiding citizens - NOT those who threaten the fabric of our society!
... tsk tsk tsk -
- Billy
- - June 21st, 2010 at 19:04:26
Why bother with someone like this,he is a burden to taxpayers,let this SOB take his own life before he does it to an innocent person,so cowardly of him to not want to join society and try to make a life for himself.
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- Send him back
- - June 21st, 2010 at 19:03:58
By all means, send him back to prison. But make him work while he is in there, someone has to clean the prisoner areas.
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- George
- - June 21st, 2010 at 19:03:58
There were no particulars in the article saying if his crimes were violent or if he killed anyone. What I did read was a man who would rather be behind bars for the rest of his life, than to risk hurting anyone out here. This man has mental illness yet he has enough sanity to know that he dosent want innocent victoms on his concience. Perhaps if society did more and learned to understand mental illness a little better, people like this man could get the help they need and not feel like they have to be locked away for the rest of their lives to protect ignorant people such as the commenters in here today. YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELVES, he`s mentally ill, WHATS YOUR EXCUSE?
